The present invention relates to an improved CPAP respiratory apparatus which will increase patient comfort and therefore compliance.
The fundamental disclosure of CPAP is made in the specification of PCT/AU82/00063 published under WO 82/03548 which discloses the supply of air to the nose of the patient at an elevated pressure, the air being supplied through a large bore inlet tube. The elevated pressure at which the air is supplied is approximately 10 cm water gauge although pressures in the range of approximately 5–20 cm water gauge are encountered. However, this pressure is measured while the patient is not breathing and as the patient inspires and expires the pressure in the patient's mask rises and falls typically by approximately 1–2 cm above and below the steady state level. The large bore inlet tube has an unrestricted internal diameter of approximately 20 mm and thus does not introduce unacceptably high pressure drops and swings in the gas delivery system during breathing. All commercially available devices have standardised to this size and arrangement.
For the patient, the work of breathing increases in proportion to the size of the pressure swing during the respiration cycle. In particular, the discomfort experienced by the patient also increases in proportion to the increase in mask pressure during breathing out. In order to deliver the patient's breathing air requirements without significant pressure loss in the supply tube, which would create a relatively large pressure swing during the breathing cycle, the delivery tube and inlet to the nose mask were selected to be substantially unrestricted and to have the large bore of approximately 20 mm.
However, this arrangement and tubing size are not particularly convenient as far as the comfort of the patient and control of the treatment are concerned. In practice, patients wearing nose masks or equivalent devices including such tubing can turn only from side to side and the freedom of movement of the patient is impaired by the tubing. If the tubing and nose mask could be made smaller, and more acute changes in the direction of air flow tolerated, a much more comfortable and acceptable air delivery system would result. Also if a humidifier and/or a filter could be placed between the pump and the mask, then patient comfort could be increased. Similarly, if a flow measuring device could be so located, control of treatment could be enhanced.
It is the object of the present invention to substantially overcome or ameliorate the above mentioned difficulties by the provision of a CPAP respiratory apparatus which maintains the pressure of air or other breathable gas at the point of immediate access to the patient's respiratory system substantially constant notwithstanding in-line components which introduce appreciable pressure drops.
It is appreciated that increasing the resistance to flow in the supply tube results in an increased pressure drop between the “pump end” and “patient end” of the delivery tube. In order to compensate for this pressure drop between the ends of the delivery tube whilst maintaining flow, the present invention seeks to maintain the air pressure at the “patient end” substantially constant. This is done by sensing the pressure within the nose mask, or equivalent device, itself.
Two known commercially available CPAP respiratory devices involve some pressure or air flow control. One of these is the device sold by RESPIRONICS of the USA under the trade name BiPAP in which the supply pressure can be switched between a lower pressure and a higher pressure in accordance with the patient's respiratory cycle in order to assist the patient's breathing effort. This switching is achieved by sensing air flow through a sensor in the pump of the air supply system. Another commercially available device sold by HEALTHDYNE also of the USA has a control mechanism which controls the pressure at the outlet of the air pump.
Both of these commercially available devices use the standard large bore 20 mm inlet tubing which is substantially unrestricted downstream of the pump outlet and will not operate satisfactorily with pressure drop inducing components such as small bore tubing. This is thought (as will be apparent from the experimental data given hereafter) to be due to the large pressure drop which causes large pressure swings in the nose mask as the patient inspires and expires. In particular, because these prior art devices do not attempt to derive the signal to control the operation at the air pump as near to the patient's respiratory system as possible, and downstream of all pressure drop inducing components, there is a problem of time lags and phase shifts as regards the supply of air to and from the patient. It has been experimentally determined by the applicant that by sensing the pressure at the patient's mask and servo-controlling same to be substantially constant, the problems introduced by the pressure drop created in the supply tubing, can be substantially overcome.